Semiconductor memory device and method for driving the same

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor memory device includes: a modulation controller for generating a modulation control signal for controlling a frequency modulation operation; a delay locked loop (DLL) circuit for performing a delay locking operation to generate first and second DLL clocks and outputting a frequency-modulated DLL clock in response to the modulation control signal; and a data strobe signal generator for outputting the frequency-modulated DLL clock as a data strobe signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention claims priority of Korean patent applicationnumber 10-2007-0002896, filed on Jan. 10, 2007, which is incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and moreparticularly, to a delay locked loop (DLL) of a semiconductor memorydevice.

A system is implemented with a plurality of semiconductor devices. Amongthem, a semiconductor memory device is used to store data. Thesemiconductor memory device outputs data corresponding to addressesreceived from a data processor, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU),or stores data received from a data processor on unit cellscorresponding to addresses inputted together with the data.

As the operating speed of the system increases, the data processorrequires the semiconductor memory device to input/output data at a highspeed. As semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) technologies rapidlydevelops, the operating speed of the data processor increases, but thedata input/output speed of the semiconductor memory device does not keepup with the increased operating speed of the data processor.

Many attempts have been made to develop semiconductor memory devicesthat can increase data input/output speed up to the level required bythe data processor. One of these semiconductor memory devices is asynchronous memory device that outputs data at each period of a systemclock. Specifically, the synchronous memory device outputs or receivesdata to or from the data processor in synchronization with the systemclock. However, because even the synchronous memory device could notkeep up with the operating speed of the data processor, a double datarate (DDR) synchronous memory device was developed. The DDR synchronousmemory device outputs or receives data at each transition of the systemclock. That is, the DDR synchronous memory device outputs or receivesdata in synchronization with falling edges and rising edges of thesystem clock.

However, the system clock necessarily has a predetermined delay timeuntil it arrives at a data output circuit because it passes through aclock input buffer, a transfer line, etc. Thus, if the data outputcircuit outputs data in synchronization with the delayed system clock,an external device will receive data that are not synchronized withrising edges (rising transitions) and falling edges (fallingtransitions) of the system clock.

To solve this problem, the semiconductor memory device uses a delaylocked loop (DLL) circuit to lock a delay of a clock signal. The DLLcircuit compensates for the delay caused by internal circuits of thesemiconductor memory device until the system clock input to thesemiconductor memory device is transferred to the data output circuit.The DLL circuit finds the delay time of the system clock, which iscaused by the clock input buffer, the clock transfer line, etc. of thesemiconductor memory device. Then, the DLL circuit delays the systemclock by the found delay time and outputs the delayed system clock tothe data output circuit. That is, the DLL circuit outputs thedelay-locked system clock to the data output circuit. The data outputcircuit outputs data in synchronization with the delay-locked systemclock. Therefore, it seems that the data are correctly output to theexternal circuit in synchronization with the system clock.

In an actual operation, the delay-locked system clock is transferred tothe output buffer at a point in time earlier by one period than a pointin time when the data must be outputted, and the output buffer outputsdata in synchronization with the received delay locked clock. Therefore,the data is outputted faster than the delay of the system clock causedby the internal circuit of the semiconductor memory device. In this way,it seems that the data are correctly outputted in synchronization withthe rising and falling edges of the system clock input to thesemiconductor memory device. That is, the DLL circuit is a circuit tofind how fast the data must be outputted in order to compensate for thedelay of the system clock within the semiconductor memory device.

A data input device can receive data accurately synchronized with thesystem clock when the data is outputted in synchronization with thedelay locked clock output from the DLL circuit. However, since the delaylocked clock always has a constant frequency, an electromagneticinterference (EMI) characteristic may be degraded during the datatransfer process. That is, the EMI characteristic may be degraded when aclock frequency used for data transfer between the semiconductor memorydevice and the data processor is fixed to a single frequency. To solvethis problem, the system with the semiconductor memory device isdesigned to have a spread spectrum clock (SSC) function. The SSCfunction is to spread a power spectrum by modulating a clock receivedfrom the semiconductor memory device. However, when the SSC function ofthe system is operated incorrectly, the EMI characteristic is degradedbecause the power spectrum output from the semiconductor memory devicehas a single peak.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing asemiconductor memory device that can modulate an output clock so as toprevent degradation in an EMI characteristic of a system with thesemiconductor memory device.

Another embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing asemiconductor memory device having a DLL circuit that can modulate anoutput clock.

Further another embodiments of the present invention are directed toproviding a semiconductor memory device that can modulate an outputclock by controlling an output clock of a circuit for correcting a dutyratio of a delay locked clock.

In accordance with the first aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a semiconductor memory device, including: a modulationcontroller for generating a modulation control signal for controlling afrequency modulation operation; a delay locked loop (DLL) circuit forperforming a delay locking operation to generate first and second DLLclocks and outputting a frequency-modulated DLL clock in response to themodulation control signal; and a data strobe signal generator foroutputting the frequency-modulated DLL clock as a data strobe signal.

In accordance with the second aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method for driving a semiconductor memory device, including:generating a frequency modulation control signal; performing a delaylocking operation to generate a delay locked loop (DLL) clock modulatedin response to the frequency modulation control signal; and outputtingthe modulated DLL clock as a data strobe signal.

In accordance with the third aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a semiconductor memory device, including: a delay locked loop(DLL) circuit for performing a delay locking operation to generate a DLLclock; a modulation controller for generating a modulation controlsignal for controlling a frequency modulation operation; a dutycorrector for correcting a duty ratio of the DLL clock and outputtingthe DLL clock modulated in response to the modulation control signal;and a data strobe signal generator for outputting the modulated DLLclock as a data strobe signal.

In accordance with the fourth aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method for driving a semiconductor memory device, including:performing a delay locking operation to generate a delay locked loop(DLL) clock; generating a frequency modulation control signal;correcting a duty ratio of the DLL clock and frequency-modulating theDLL clock in response to the frequency modulation control signal; andoutputting the modulated DLL clock as a data strobe signal.

In accordance with the fifth aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a semiconductor memory device, including: a delay locked loop(DLL) circuit for performing a delay locking operation to generate a DLLclock; a modulation controller for generating a modulation controlsignal for controlling a frequency modulation operation; a clock outputcircuit for outputting a modulated clock under the control of themodulation controller; and a data strobe signal generator for outputtingthe modulated DLL clock as a data strobe signal.

In accordance with the sixth aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method for driving a semiconductor memory device, including:performing a delay locking operation to generate a delay locked loop(DLL) clock; generating a frequency modulation control signal;frequency-modulating the DLL clock in response to the frequencymodulation control signal; and outputting the frequency-modulated clockas a data strobe signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a semiconductor memory device;

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram illustrating a delay locking operation ofthe semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a duty correction mixer shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a semiconductor memory device in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a divider shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of a shift register shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of a modulation signal transmitter shown inFIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram of a duty correction mixer shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram illustrating a delay locking operation ofthe semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 10 is a waveform diagram illustrating an operation of thesemiconductor memory device in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a semiconductor memory device for modulating an outputclock so as to prevent degradation in an EMI characteristic of a systemwith the semiconductor memory device in accordance with exemplaryembodiments of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a semiconductor memory device with a delaylocked loop (DLL) circuit.

Referring to FIG. 1, the semiconductor memory device includes a clockinput buffer 5, a first delay circuit 20A, a second delay circuit 20B, afirst phase comparator 30A, a second comparator 30B, a first delay model40A, a second delay model 40B, a duty-correction mixer 50A, a dummyduty-correction mixer 50B, a mixer controller 60, a duty-correctionphase comparator 70, a waveform separator 80A, a dummy waveformseparator 80B, a first data strobe signal generator 90A, a second datastrobe signal generator 90B, and a data output buffer 10.

The clock input buffer 5 buffers external system clocks CLK and CLKB tooutput a reference clock RCLK. The first delay circuit 20A delays thereference clock RCLK by a predetermined delay value to output a risingclock RSCLK. The second delay circuit 20B delays the reference clockRCLK by a predetermined delay value and inverts the delayed referenceclock to output a falling clock FACLK. The duty-correction mixer 50Amixes the rising clock RSCLK with the falling clock FACLK to output amixing clock MIX. The dummy duty-correction mixer 50B mixes the risingclock RSCLK with the falling clock FACLK to output a dummy mixing clockDMIX. The duty-correction phase comparator 70 compares a duty ratio ofthe rising clock RSCLK with a duty ratio of the falling clock FACLK tooutput a corresponding control signal to the mixer controller 60. Themixer controller 60 controls the correction of the duty ratios of themixing clock MIX and the dummy mixing clock DMIX in response to thecontrol signal output from the dummy duty-correction phase comparator70.

The first delay model 40A outputs a first feedback clock FCLK producedby delaying the mixing clock MIX by a model delay value. The seconddelay model 40B outputs a second feedback clock FB2 produced by delayingthe dummy mixing clock DMIX by a model delay value. The model delayvalue is obtained by modeling a delay time taken to transfer the systemclock to the data output circuit after the system clock is inputted tothe semiconductor memory device. The first phase comparator 30A comparesa phase of the reference clock RCLK with a phase of the first feedbackclock FCLK to output a first phase comparison result signal to the firstdelay circuit 20A. The first delay circuit 20A outputs the rising clockRSCLK by adjusting the delay value of the reference clock RCLK inresponse to the first phase comparison result signal. The second phasecomparator 30B compares a phase of the reference clock RCLK with a phaseof the second feedback clock FB2 to output a second phase comparisonresult signal to the second delay circuit 20B. The second delay circuit20B outputs the falling clock FACLK by adjusting the delay value of thereference clock RCLK in response to the second phase comparison resultsignal.

The phase comparison operations are performed until the phases of theclock signals RCLK and FOLK inputted to the first phase comparator 30Aare equal to each other and the phases of the clock signals RCLK and FB2inputted to the second phase comparator 30B are equal to each other. Inaddition, the first delay circuit 20A and the second delay circuit 20Boutput the rising clock RSCLK and the falling clock FACLK produced bylocking the delay value of the reference clock RCLK in response to thecontrol signals provided from the first phase comparator 30A and thesecond phase comparator 30B, respectively.

The mixing clock MIX produced by compensating the duty differencebetween the rising clock RSCLK and the falling clock FACLK is generatedthrough the duty-correction mixer 50A, the dummy duty-correction mixer50B, the mixer controller 60, and the duty-correction phase comparator70 and then is inputted to the waveform separator 80A. The waveformseparator 80A generates a rising DLL clock RDLL and a falling DLL clockFDLL by using the mixing clock MIX. The rising DLL clock RDLL is a clocksynchronized with the rising edge of the mixing clock MIX, and thefalling DLL clock FDLL is a clock synchronized with the falling edge ofthe mixing clock MIX. The dummy waveform separator 80B receives thedummy mixing clock DMIX from the dummy duty-correction mixer 50B.Although the dummy duty-correction mixer 50B and the dummy waveformseparator 80B are not directly necessary to generate the rising andfalling DLL clocks RDLL and FDLL, they are used to balance the load atlocations where the rising clock RSCLK and the falling clock FACLK areinputted.

The first data strobe signal generator 90A generates a first data strobesignal DQS using the rising DLL clock RDLL, and the second data strobesignal generator 90B generates a second data strobe signal DQSB usingthe falling DLL clock FDLL. The data output buffer 10 receives aninternal data IDATA provided from a memory core and outputs the internaldata IDATA as an output data DATA in response to a transition of therising and falling DLL clocks RDLL and FDLL.

As described above, the DDR synchronous memory device outputs data inresponse to the rising and falling edges of the system clocks CLK andCLKB. When the data output buffer 10 outputs data in response to therising and falling edges of the system clocks CLK and CLKB, the data areoutputted to the external circuit after a predetermined delay timebecause the system clocks CLK and CLKB are delayed by the predetermineddelay time until they are transferred to the data output buffer 10.However, when the data output buffer 10 outputs the data insynchronization with the rising and falling DLL clocks RDLL and FDLLhaving the corrected delay time, the data are outputted to the externalcircuit while the system clocks CLK and CLKB are correctly synchronizedwith the transition timing.

As described above, the delay locking operation adjusts the delay valuesof the first delay circuit 20A and the second delay circuit 20B untilthe phases of the clocks RCLK and FLCK inputted to the first phasecomparator 30A are equal to each other and the phases of the clocks RCLKand FB2 inputted to the second phase comparator 30B are equal to eachother. In the state, referred to as a “delay locked state”, the delayvalues of the first delay circuit 20A and the second delay circuit 20Bare not changed any more because the phases of the clocks RCLK and FLCKinputted to the first phase comparator 30A are equal to each other andthe phases of the clocks RCLK and FB2 inputted to the second phasecomparator 30B are equal to each other. At this point, the rising clockRSCLK and the falling clock FACLK outputted from the first delay circuit20A and the second delay circuit 20B pass through the duty-correctioncircuits and are finally outputted as the rising and falling DLL clocksRDLL and FDLL, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram illustrating the delay locking operation ofthe semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 1

Referring to FIG. 2, the clocks output after the delay locking operationare synchronized with the rising edges of the rising and falling clocksRSCLK and FACLK, but not synchronized with the falling edges of therising and falling clocks RSCLK and FACLK. This is because the dutyratio of the inputted system clocks CLK and CLKB are not 50%.

Referring to FIG. 2, the mixing clock MIX having the duty ratio of 50%is generated using the rising and falling clocks RSCLK and FACLK throughthe duty-correction mixer 50A, the dummy duty-correction mixer 50B, themixer controller 60, and the duty-correction phase comparator 70.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the duty-correction mixer 50A shown inFIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 3, the duty-correction mixer 50A includes first tothird inverters INV1, INV2 and INV3. The first and second inverters INV1and INV2 are configured to receive the rising clock RSCLK and thefalling clock FACLK, respectively. The third inverter INV3 is configuredto receive output signals of the first and second inverters INV1 andINV2 to output the mixing clock MIX. A detailed circuit diagram of thefirst and second inverters INV1 and INV2 is shown on the lower side ofFIG. 3. The mixer controller 60 generates duty-correction controlsignals HIGH and LOW for controlling the operations of the first andsecond inverters INV1 and INV2. Although transitions of the rising andfalling clocks RSCLK and FACLK occur at the different timing as shown inFIG. 3, a transition of the mixing clock MIX occurs at a time betweenthe transitions of the rising and falling clocks RSCLK and FACLK.

As described above, the rising and falling DLL clocks RDLL and FDLL areoutputted as the data strobe signals DQS and DQSB through the first andsecond data strobe signal generators 90A and 908. In addition, the dataoutput buffer 10 receives the internal data IDATA from the memory coreto output it as the output data DATA in synchronization with the risingand falling DLL clocks RDLL and FDLL.

The EMI characteristic may be degraded in view of the system if theoutput data and the data strobe signal always have the same frequency.To solve this problem, the system with the semiconductor memory deviceis designed to have a spread spectrum clock (SSC) function so as toimplement a frequency modulation operation on output signals from thesemiconductor memory device. However, if the SSC function of the systemdoes not work well and thus the frequency modulation operation is notperformed, the power spectrum of the system is concentrated on a singlepeak value due to the output signals from the semiconductor memorydevice, resulting in the degradation of the EMI characteristic.Accordingly, the present invention proposes a semiconductor memorydevice with a circuit block that can improve the EMI characteristic ofthe system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a semiconductor memory device in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the semiconductor memory device includes a clockinput buffer 6, a modulation controller 100, a first delay circuit 200A,a second delay circuit 200B, a first phase comparator 300A, a secondphase comparator 300B, a first delay model 400A, a second delay model400B, a duty-correction mixer 500A, a dummy duty-correction mixer 500B,a mixer controller 600, a duty-correction phase comparator 700, awaveform separator 800A, a dummy waveform separator 800B, a first datastrobe signal generator 900A, a second data strobe signal generator900B, and a data output buffer 1000. The operations of the blocks forperforming the delay locking operation to generate DLL clocks aresubstantially the same as those of the blocks shown in FIG. 1. Asignificant difference between the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 1and the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 4 is that theduty-correction mixer 500A is controlled by the modulation controller100.

The modulation controller 100 includes a divider 110 and a modulationsignal decoder 120. The divider 110 divides an external system clocksignal CLK to generate a modulation signal TM, and the modulation signaldecoder 120 decodes the modulation signal TM to generate first andsecond decoding signals S and SB.

The duty-correction mixer 500A outputs a mixing clock MIX by correctingduty ratios of a rising clock RSCLK and a falling clock FACLK, which areoutputted from the first delay circuit 200A and the second delay circuit200B, respectively. Under the control of the modulation controller 100,the duty-correction mixer 500A outputs the mixing clock MIX as afrequency-modulated clock. The frequency-modulated clock represents aclock that is modulated within a predetermined frequency bandwidth. Thatis, the frequency modulation is to modulate an intended frequency of aclock delay-locked by a frequency bandwidth that can be modulated inorder to improve the EMI characteristic of the system. Accordingly, itcan be expected to improve the EMI characteristic, while meeting thefrequency specification of the DLL clock.

The frequency-modulated mixing clock MIX passes through the waveformseparator 800A and is outputted as data strobe signals DQS and DQSBthrough the data strobe signal generators 900A and 900B.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of the divider 110 shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5, the divider 110 includes a shift register 110A andan inverter I1. The shift register 110A transfers an input signal D asan output signal Q in response to an intended number of transitions ofthe system clock CLK, and the inverter I1 inverts the output signal Q ofthe shift register 110A to output the inverted signal as the inputsignal D of the shift register 110A. The output signal Q of the shiftregister 110A is outputted to the modulation signal decoder 120.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of the shift register 110A shown in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 6, the shift register 110A includes a first transfergate T1, a first latch 111, a second transfer gate T2, and a secondlatch 112. The first transfer gate T1 transfers the input signal D tothe first latch 111 in response to the falling edge of the system clockCLK, and the first latch 111 latches an output signal of the firsttransfer gate T1 in response to the rising edge of the system clock CLK.The second transfer gate T2 transfers the latched signal of the firstlatch 111 to the second latch 112 in response to the rising edge of thesystem clock CLK, and the second latch 112 latches the output signal ofthe first transfer gate T1 in response to the falling edge of the systemclock CLK.

Although the divided-by-2 system clock is used as the modulation systemin FIG. 6, the divided-by-N system clock can also be used.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of the modulation signal decoder 120 shownin FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 7, the modulation signal decoder 120 includes firstand second inverters I5 and I6. The first inverter I5 inverts themodulation signal TM to output the first decoding signal S, and thesecond inverter I6 inverts the first decoding signal S to output thesecond decoding signal SB.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram of the duty-correction mixer 500A shown inFIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 8, the duty-correction mixer 500A includes a pluralityof first inverters 510A, a plurality of second inverters 510B, aplurality of third inverters 520A, a plurality of fourth inverters 520B,and a fifth inverter I7. The first inverters 510A are arranged inparallel to invert the rising clock RSCLK outputted from the first delaycircuit 200A in response to duty-correction control signals HIGH andLOW. The second inverters 510B are arranged in parallel to invert therising clock RSCLK in response to the first and second modulationdecoding signals S and SB. The third inverters 520A are arranged inparallel to invert the falling signal FACLK output from the second delaycircuit 200B in response to the duty-correction control signals HIGH andLOW. The fourth inverters 520B are arranged in parallel to invert thefalling signal FACLK in response to the first and second modulationdecoding signals S and SB. The fifth inverter I7 inverts output signalsof the first to fourth inverters 510A, 510B, 520A and 520B. Theduty-correction control signals HIGH and LOW are provided from the mixercontroller 600. Although the second inverter 510B and the fourthinverter 520B each having only one inverter are shown in FIG. 8, theycan also include a plurality of inverters.

FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram illustrating the delay locking operation ofthe semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 9, the semiconductor memory device performs thefrequency modulation operation in response to the first and secondmodulation decoding signals S and SB during the operation of adjustingthe duty ratio of the DLL clocks. Therefore, the mixing clock MIX havingthe adjusted duty ratio is modulated within a predetermined range M. Thedata strobe signals DQS and DQSB finally generated using the mixingclock MIX are also frequency-modulated within the predetermined range M,and the data output from the data output buffer 1000 are alsofrequency-modulated. To modulate the data is not to output thesuccessive data with the same frequency, but to output the data withvariable frequencies within a predetermined range.

FIG. 10 is a waveform diagram illustrating the operation of thesemiconductor memory device in accordance with the embodiment of thepresent invention.

As shown on the left side of FIG. 10, the frequency spectrum of theoutput signal has a single peak when the semiconductor memory deviceoutputs the data strobe signals and the data without the frequencymodulation. In this case, the EMI characteristic of the system may beseverely degraded.

Meanwhile, as shown in the right side of FIG. 10, the frequency spectrumof the output signal has no peak when the semiconductor memory deviceoutputs the frequency-modulated signals. Therefore, the EMIcharacteristic of the system is not degraded.

Although the clock frequency output from the duty-correction circuit hasbeen modulated in the embodiments of the present invention, a clockoutput circuit can be included which receives the clock from the DLLcircuit and buffers the received clock, and a clock output from theclock output circuit is modulated.

In accordance with the present invention, the modulation of the clockoutput from the semiconductor memory device can be adjusted. Therefore,it can contribute to the improvement of the EMI characteristic in thesystem with the semiconductor memory device. Especially, thesemiconductor memory device in accordance with the present invention isuseful for the case where the clock modulation cannot be adjusted.

While the present invention has been described with respect to thespecific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat various transpositions, changes, and modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as definedin the following claims.

1-11. (canceled)
 12. A semiconductor memory device, comprising: a delaylocked loop (DLL) circuit for performing a delay locking operation togenerate a DLL clock; a modulation controller for generating amodulation control signal for controlling a frequency modulationoperation; a duty corrector for correcting a duty ratio of the DLL clockand outputting the DLL clock modulated in response to the modulationcontrol signal; and a data strobe signal generator for outputting themodulated DLL clock as a data strobe signal.
 13. The semiconductormemory device as recited in claim 12, wherein the DLL circuit includes:a clock input buffer for buffering a clock signal to output a referenceclock; a first phase comparator for comparing a phase of the referenceclock with a phase of a first feedback clock; a first delay circuit fordelaying the reference clock by a delay value corresponding to theresult of comparison of the first phase comparator to output a first DLLclock; a first delay model for delaying an output signal of the firstdelay circuit by a first model value to output the duty corrector;second phase comparator for comparing a phase of the reference clockwith a phase of a second feedback clock; a second delay circuit fordelaying the reference clock by a delay value corresponding to theresult of comparison of the second phase comparator and inverting thedelayed reference clock to output a second DLL lock; and a second delaymodel for delaying an output signal of the duty corrector by a secondmodel value to output the second feedback clock.
 14. The semiconductormemory device as recited in claim 13, wherein the modulation controllerincludes: a divider for dividing a clock signal to output a dividedclock signal; and a decoder for decoding the divided clock signal tooutput the modulation control signal.
 15. The semiconductor memorydevice as recited in claim 14, wherein the divider includes: a shiftregister for transferring an input signal as an output signal inresponse to a predetermined number of transitions of the clock signal;and an inverter for inverting the output signal of the shift register tooutput the inverted signal as the input signal of the shift register,wherein the output signal of the shift register is outputted to thedecoder.
 16. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 15,wherein the shift register includes: a first transfer gate fortransferring the input signal in response to a first transition of theclock signal; a first latch for latching an output signal of the firsttransfer gate in response to a second transition of the clock signal; asecond transfer gate for transferring the latched signal of the firstlatch in response to the second transition of the clock signal; and asecond latch for latching an output signal of the second transfer gatein response to the first transition of the clock signal.
 17. Thesemiconductor memory device as recited in claim 13, wherein the dutycorrector includes: a duty-correction mixer for mixing the outputsignals of the first and second delay circuits in response to a dutycorrection control signal and the modulation control signal output fromthe modulation controller; a dummy duty-correction mixer for mixing theoutput signals of the first and second delay circuits in response to theduty-correction control signal; a duty-correction phase comparator forcomparing a phase of the output signal of the first delay circuit with aphase of the output signal of the second delay circuit; and a mixercontroller for generating the duty-correction control signal in responseto the result of phase comparison of the duty-correction phasecomparator.
 18. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 17,wherein the duty-correction mixer includes: a plurality of firstinverters arranged in parallel to invert the output signal of the firstdelay circuit in response to the duty-correction control signal; aplurality of second inverters arranged in parallel to invert the outputsignal of the first delay circuit in response to the modulation controlsignal; a plurality of third inverters arranged in parallel to invertthe output signal of the second delay circuit in response to theduty-correction control signal; a plurality of fourth inverters arrangedin parallel to invert the output signal of the second delay circuit inresponse to the modulation control signal; and a fifth inverter forinverting the output signals of the first to fourth inverters.
 19. Amethod for driving a semiconductor memory device, comprising: performinga delay locking operation to generate a delay locked loop (DLL) clock;generating a frequency modulation control signal; correcting a dutyratio of the DLL clock and frequency-modulating the DLL clock inresponse to the frequency modulation control signal; and outputting themodulated DLL clock as a data strobe signal.
 20. The method as recitedin claim 19, wherein the generating of the frequency modulation controlsignal includes: dividing a clock signal to output a divided clocksignal; and decoding the divided clock signal to generate the frequencymodulation control signal. 21-27. (canceled)